This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing e-commerce marketplace landscape. More from the series →On 182 acres of Central Texas scrubland outside Austin, a Ford Bronco crawls over a dirt course taking shape. Winding trails cut through the property, where obstacles and new buildings are beginning to emerge from the brush.For Rhino USA, the truck and towing gear brand that found an unlikely audience on TikTok Shop, the sprawling compound is being designed as a place to test products, host creators and produce the videos that drive sales online. Those videos often feature the company’s gear in action. In a recent post, for instance, Rhino USA showed how its recovery equipment could be used to free a semi-submerged truck from a pool of mud.
The project, called RhinoWorld, comes as Rhino USA has emerged as one of TikTok Shop’s more unusual success stories. While beauty and fashion dominate sales on the platform, Rhino USA has generated more than eight figures in TikTok Shop revenue selling products such as ratchet straps, winch rope and traction boards, according to the company. Now, Rhino USA is investing in a physical destination designed to generate the creator content, product demonstrations and live shopping streams it hopes will power its next phase of TikTok Shop growth.
